When you prepare for colocation, the process looks a lot like the checklist you would run through before moving to a new home, which makes sense since a data center is essentially a new house for your infrastructure. Just as you would look at schools and traffic before choosing a home, you will want to look at power and bandwidth before choosing a data center. There are other factors too, including the general services a provider offers.
Sizing Space and Power Before You Prepare for Colocation
Start by getting a general idea of the services you need. Data centers sell colocation by space and power, so you will want to know the rack space you need (measured in 1U, 2U, and so on) along with the power you need (measured in amps). Skip this step and one of two things happens. Overestimate the resources and you overpay for what you actually use. Underestimate them and you either pay overage fees or run into a solution that temporarily cannot keep up, through no fault of the data center. At Vault Networks, we work with you directly to find the resources your solution actually needs, so this does not happen.
Planning Bandwidth for Your Colocation Solution
Internet access is another factor to plan around. Since applications can slow down when bandwidth is too tight, running short is like trying to hold highway speed during rush hour: frustrating at best, and sometimes just not possible. A burstable connection solves this by letting you temporarily exceed what you have subscribed to. Vault Networks bills using the 95th percentile method, which removes the top five percent of bandwidth usage in any given month, so you can burst your connectivity when you need it without fearing an excessive overage charge.
Hardware and Additional Services
Hardware is worth planning for too, though in most cases you will simply bring your existing hardware into the data center. Depending on your growth needs, it is worth discussing technology procurement with your provider. Vault Networks works with industry leaders such as Fortinet and Dell, so if you need more servers down the road, that conversation is easy to have.
Finally, weigh any additional services beyond power, space, and internet. You may need backup services for regulatory purposes, or redundant power and internet to keep your infrastructure running at all times, similar to the resilience standards outlined by the Uptime Institute. Vault Networks offers these services and more, so bring them up when you talk through your colocation plans with us.
For a free consultation on what you need before you collocate with a data center, reach out to us at sales@vaultnetworks.com or by calling (305) 735-8098 option 2. We are happy to help you find the best solution for your company.